[Survival of laboratory animals in argon-containing hypoxic gaseous environments]

Present paper is aimed at assessing the effect of hypoxic gaseous mixtures intended for the use as the fire suppression agents within closed volumes on the basis of argon with addition of carbonic acid on the body of mammalia. Three experiments were performed on the male white laboratory Wistar rats. It is indicated that argon adding to the hypoxic mixtures containing 4-5% volume increases animal survivability as compared to analogous nitrogen-based mixtures. An addition of 4-8% volume of carbonic acid impairs the of animal condition and reduces the survival rate. There noted a pronounced negative effect of the increased temperature on the survival time in the hypoxic media. One can draw inference about the principal possibility of using argon for formation of the hypoxic gaseous mixtures possessing fire suppression properties.